


Derailed

by Syrum



Category: Star Wars Episode VII: The Force Awakens (2015)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Blood and Injury, Cuddling & Snuggling, Fluff, Idiots in Love, Kylo without Snoke, M/M, Medical Jargon, Near Death, Sick Character, Sickfic, Snoke does not exist in this universe, life without Snoke, sorta - Freeform
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-03-01
Updated: 2016-03-01
Packaged: 2018-05-24 05:42:15
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,686
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6143315
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Syrum/pseuds/Syrum
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Hux prides himself on never once having had a day off sick, his entire life.  He's determined not to break that record, to the detriment of his own health.</p><p>Kylo ends up being the one to suffer.  Still, maybe this was just the push they needed.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Derailed

**Author's Note:**

> This fulfilled two things I wanted to write; 'modern AU' and 'what would Kylo be like if Snoke never existed?'

Hux was never sick. He had an entirely unblemished record; at school he had not been off once, not even when the other children came down with chickenpox, or the time a bad batch of mince had ended up in their lunch shepherd's pie, leaving half the school and a good number of teachers stranded at home with food poisoning. No, he had fought through it all, dragging himself in even when he thought he might pass out from the heat of his fever or the weakness in his knees, though even that was rare.

College had been no different, then university, attending every class and lecture he could as well as several that weren’t part of his courses at all. He strived, constantly, to be the best, to make his father proud, if just for a moment. It made him few friends, yet he wasn’t overly concerned about that, he would not have had the time to cultivate anything resembling friendship outside of his schooling anyway.

He had entered the workforce with much the same ethos, starting as an intern for the company his father had helped found, working his way up based on his own merit. Not that Brendol Hux the First would have allowed his son to ride upon his coattails, but it perhaps might have been easier to advance his career had he allowed even a little help. But, Hux was nothing if not stubborn. Now, at thirty four years old, he was on track to being nominated for the board of directors within the year, manager of an entire division, and still with an unbroken, unblemished attendance record.

Until that day.

“You sound like shit.” Hux scowled, though in reality his face had not changed over much, and he huddled further down into the nest of blankets, clutching the phone to his ear with trembling fingers.

“Fuck off, Ren.” It sounded too nasally, too wet, a voice no longer his own and Hux hated it. “Are you going to pick me up or not?”

“I’m going with ‘not’, considering how bad you sound.” There was a shuffling on the other end of the line and a car door slammed. “Just go back to bed, they can manage without you for _one_ day.” Except, Hux knew they couldn’t, had never had to. Growling down the phone at the irritating man-child he was, apparently, friends with, Hux hung up.

Phasma wasn’t answering. Poe still wasn’t talking to him after he had blown off the man’s birthday party for a board meeting. Finn? He didn’t have Finn’s number. Rey was out of town visiting family, and would probably refuse anyway, agreeing with her idiot cousin. For the first time in his life, Hux regretted not having more friends he could call on who _weren’t_ completely worthless.

He needed to get to work. He was already a full forty five minutes behind schedule, if he didn’t hurry he was liable to be late. A cab, he would have to call a cab, there was no other way around it; he could barely see straight, much less drive himself through the early morning traffic.

Clothes were rather trickier than normal, and Hux had decided to forgo his usual morning shower entirely, unable to even process the idea of it. The cab would only be another twenty minutes, he did not have long, though breakfast that morning consisted of a half cup of coffee which came back up almost as soon as he had swallowed it. _Nice_ , he thought bitterly, wiping his mouth on the back of his hand as he stumbled from the sink.

His phone pinged, finally, and it took a good few seconds for Hux to realise that he had received a message, and that his cab had likely arrived. Grabbing it, his keys and then his wallet, Hux managed to drop all three on the floor as he tried to slide them into his coat pocket. It wasn’t a good day, he decided, swallowing down the self-pity and reaching for the lump of black on his floor that he assumed must be his wallet. His vision wavering, blurring, the tips of Hux’s fingers scraped over the leather before he pitched forward. He didn’t feel the thump as he landed, head first into the polished wood of his floor, slipping into unconsciousness before he hit the ground.

* * *

Kylo was off the phone to Hux for all of ten seconds before his phone rang again. He stared at the number and grumbled softly to himself before hitting the button to accept the call.

“Kylo Ren’s phone.”

“Ben sweetheart, I was starting to think you were ignoring us.” Ren rolled his eyes at the sound of his mother’s voice, wondering if perhaps he should have answered at all.

“I’ve been busy.” He replied, stepping into the light and airy store and hefting a basket onto his arm, the black fabric of his coat swirling behind him. “And it’s Kylo.” He corrected, before pausing for a moment and adding. “Or Ren.” She was getting on in years, after all, it wouldn’t hurt his cause to try to transition her into his name change a little more gently perhaps considering the blunt-force tactics weren’t working.

“Of course, sorry Ben dear.” He groaned, and knew she was doing it on purpose. “I was wondering if you were going to be joining us for dinner tonight?” Tonight? What was tonight? Kylo racked his brains to try to work out what was so special that he was being called home just for a dinner? There weren’t any public holidays, Rey’s birthday had already passed, his mother’s wasn’t for another three months, which meant…

Oh.

_Shit._

“I’m not sure I can, Mom.” Sliding into his best ‘regretful son’ voice, Kylo plucked a can of beans off the shelf and placed it in his basket. Finding the row of greetings cards, more through accident - on his way to the display of far too many kinds of bread - than by design, he plucked the first ‘Dad’ birthday card off the rack he saw and placed that in the basket as well.

“Why, has something happened?” She sounded concerned, and that irritated him far more than it really should have. Still, Kylo schooled his voice, knowing that riling her up over this would likely only cause an argument, even if he did wish she would stop fretting over him quite so much.

“I got a call from Hux, he’s pretty sick, and I don’t think he has anyone else to look after him.” In truth, Ren had no idea if Hux had anyone else who cared enough to make sure he was still breathing. Or, at least, almost breathing. He was also pretty sure Hux wasn’t going to want him there, but an excuse was an excuse, and he wasn’t technically _lying._

“Hux? You mean that red-headed boy who put you in the hospital?” She sounded disapproving, and there was no real surprise there, though calling Hux a ‘boy’ was a little unrealistic he thought.

“Mom, that was six years ago, you can’t hate him forever.” Though she was doing a damn good job of trying, he thought. Hux had been twenty eight at the time, Kylo - still Ben then, at least to his parents though they hadn’t stopped trying since - only twenty three. Old enough to know better, Hux had given him a lift home, Kylo had grabbed the wheel in a fit of drunken revelry, steering the car directly into a tree.

The car had been written off, Kylo woke up a week later in hospital with several broken bones, a gash down one eyebrow and temporary memory loss. Hux had taken full responsibility and they had never spoken of it again.

“I’m sure he can look after himself for a few hours.” His mother tried again, and he might have wavered, if not for the fact that he and his father weren’t exactly on speaking terms at that moment.

“No, he really can’t.” He probably could. Kylo simply did not wish to attend that dinner, and spend four hours in an uncomfortable silence two states over. “Hux may have a stick up his ass the size of Alabama, but he’s a complete man-child when he’s sick.” Was he? Ren didn’t know, in all the years they had known one another Ren had never once known Hux to fall ill. He wandered around the store, picking up items seemingly at random and placing them into his basket as he spoke with his mother.

“Alright,” Leia sighed, sounding finally resigned to his decision. “You really are too good for that boy, Ben.”

“Mom, we’re not _dating_.” The sound he made was not undignified, a slight squawk did not escape his lips, and Kylo Ren was _not blushing_. It was a good thing Leia could not see him, judging by the quiet huff that he knew meant she was laughing at him. He managed to escape her questioning without too much more embarrassment, and with an assurance that he would post Han’s card and gift to him - a new tool kit would do, right? - and made his way to the short queue for the checkout.

As he laid out his basket contents on the conveyor, Kylo frowned at what he had collected; along with the card and gift, and the contents of his own sparse shopping list, he had picked up three cans of various types of soup, cough medicine, painkillers, three types of throat pastilles and a tub of ice cream.

It looked as though he was going to be paying Hux a visit after all, whether he liked it or not.

* * *

“Hux?” Kylo hammered louder on the door, his fist was starting to hurt. There was still no answer from within, no sound to indicate that anyone was even home. “Hux!” He had called the office - and Ren really did not want to ponder on why he had Hux’s work number saved into his phone - and the sweet-sounding lady on the other end had advised that Hux hadn’t turned up for work that morning. Nor had he called in, or left any sort of message.

Something wasn’t right. Had Hux tried to drive himself, gotten into some sort of trouble on the way in? But no, his car was still in the lot downstairs, gleaming white and unmarked and of course Kylo had parked his own pile of rust as close to it as he possibly could.

A cab, then, but if that was the case Hux would have arrived at work some hours before. It just wasn’t adding up, and as Kylo leaned back to pound at the door once more, a wet-sounding cough caught his attention. He paused, waited, and another followed soon after, close enough that he could hear it through the thick front door of Hux’s apartment.

Hux was in there, and he was either ignoring Kylo or-

The other option didn’t bear thinking about.

“Open the damn door, Hux!” He was slamming his fist into it again, black nails digging into his palms and an edge of desperation to his tone that he wasn’t ready to address. “Please, just open the door.”

“What the blazes is going on, boy? Stop that infernal yelling.” Ren turned to snarl at the intruder, stopping only when he recognised the diminutive form of Hux’s elderly landlady. Mrs 'call me Maz, dear' Kanata was one of the smallest, oldest women Kylo had ever met. She must have been approaching a hundred, easily, but the woman was just as spry as she had ever been.

“Something’s wrong with Hux, he’s not answering.” He wasn’t panicking, Kylo didn’t panic, he was fearsome and dark and was most certainly _not panicking_.

“You two have another fight?” Maz asked, raising one eyebrow - or what would have been an eyebrow, if any hair had remained there.

“No, he called me this morning to say he was too sick to drive to work, I just came over to make sure he actually ate something.” Not that Hux was liable to skip his meals, unless he was engrossed in work and happened to forget. Another wet cough sounded from inside the door, and it really was too close for Hux not to have heard them. Maz frowned at him, before indicating he should wait and shuffling back through to her own apartment, returning not a minute later with a large bundle of keys in her small, wizened hand.

“If he tells you to leave, you go, alright?” Maz glared up at him, and Kylo nodded, mouth dry as she turned the key in the lock and the door swung inwards. They both stopped and stared for half a second, before Kylo was stumbling past the horrified landlady, falling to his knees at Hux’s side and rolling him onto his back.

Hux’s already pale skin was near translucent, freckles standing out in a stark contrast across his nose, cold and clammy with sweat. He was trembling, breathing in short, shallow gasps and when Kylo gathered the unconscious redhead into his arms, he was immediately shocked at just how light the man was. How long had he been sick for? What _was_ this? There was a puddle of thick mucus on the polished wood next to where Hux’s head had been, stained red, and Kylo knew that could not be good.

“Ambulance?” Maz threw the bag Kylo had dropped just inside the door, standing aside so that he could leave with Hux in his arms, locking the door behind them.

“No time, my car’s faster.” He was already taking the stairs, two at a time, not willing to wait for the elevator. Hux groaned in his iron grip, discomfort evident, but this was fast and at least it was a sign he was alive. Dazed eyes blinked open for a moment, and Kylo almost missed it, fumbling for his keys as he skidded to a halt by his car, jamming them in the door so he could wrench the thing open and carefully lay Hux out across the back seat, fastening him in.

“Ren-” Hux’s voice was scratchy and hoarse, and he looked as though he wanted to say more until another heaving, wrenching cough shook his too-thin frame. Blood spattered across the back of the driver’s seat and Kylo swore, slamming the door and climbing in, not bothering to buckle in as he roared out of the car park far faster than the speed limit allowed.

“Why the fuck did you choose to live so far from the goddamn hospital?” There was no reply, but Kylo hadn’t expected one, Hux having passed out once more. At least, Kylo hoped he had passed out, the alternative made his blood run cold. He was well beyond the realms of panicking by that point, racing down the highway at well over a hundred, unsure as to how his car was even going that fast. He was liable to get a speeding fine for sure, and Kylo did not care, dodging between cars and trucks and swerving off at the exit for the hospital. Really, it was a wonder he hadn’t caught the attention of any law enforcement, though he wasn’t certain he would have stopped for them anyway.

Parking at the hospital consisted more of mounting the curb in the no-park zone and destroying a large and decorative planter. The car had barely stopped moving as he jumped out, dragging Hux’s unconscious form to his chest and heading straight towards the entrance for the emergency room.

Everything after that was something of a blur; Hux was taken from him, and Ren wasn’t allowed to follow. He recalled being asked questions though could not remember his answers, and he almost certainly signed something. He might have moved his car, though he wasn’t sure, and eventually found himself seated in a small, almost-private waiting area, with no recollection of how he got there.

A clock hung on the wall opposite, ticking away the minutes as he sat and waited, trembling from the adrenaline and something else. Head in his hands, curled over in the chair, he did not look up as someone entered the room, feeling the chair to his right shift slightly as another person sat themselves down.

“I should thank you really, for saving his life.” Kylo did look up at that, red-rimmed eyes staring up into glassy blue ones that were so familiar, yet set into the wrong face. Hux, the elder, only held his gaze for a moment before looking away, hands folded neatly in his lap and back perfectly straight. “They think he should pull through. Pneumonia,” He added, to Kylo’s unasked question. “He’s had it a few days at least, too stubborn to ask for help.” No wonder, Kylo thought, considering how he had been raised by the very man sat next to him.

“He’s always been like that.” Kylo replied with a croak, tongue feeling too fat in his mouth and eyes stinging. He couldn’t remember crying, but he supposed he must have, at some point.

“Yes,” Hux senior agreed. “He has. Hopefully you’ll be a good influence.” Kylo chose not to ponder for too long on what that might mean.

* * *

“Ben, you don’t normally call, what’s happened?” He didn’t know why he had, perhaps he simply needed to hear a friendly voice, and he did not bother to admonish his mother for her slip.

“I just needed to talk to you, that’s all.” The cold brick of the hospital wall bit at his back, and he raised the white stick of his cigarette to his lips, taking a long drag. He hadn’t smoked for almost five years - not since Hux talked him into quitting, the hypocritical bastard - and it wasn’t as good as he remembered.

“Where are you?” Leia asked gently, and he knew she could hear the huff of his breath, knew she knew what he was doing, yet she said nothing.

“The hospital.” He took another drag, hearing the intake of her voice as his mother automatically assumed the worst. “I’m fine, nothing happened, it’s Hux.”

“Do you need me to come over?” Yes, he wanted to scream. Yes he needed her, needed someone to talk to, needed his mother. He was selfish, immature, and he wanted her to curl around him, hold him, stroke his hair as she had when he was a child, to tell him that she loved him and everything would be just fine.

“No.” He finally answered, the pause too long, and he knew she would have noticed. “No, it’s fine. I was just...I don’t really know why I called.”

“It’s fine sweetheart, call whenever you need anything at all, we’re always here.”

“Thanks Mom.” Kylo smiled, his first smile in days, weeks it felt like, watery and gone within moments. He needed to go home at some point, to get changed and shower, he was certain he stank but he did not want to leave Hux’s bedside, not until he at least managed to wake up. The last of the cigarette burnt to ash and he stubbed it out against the wall, flicking it into the provided trash can as he stood from his spot.

“Is Hux going to be alright?” She asked, and he knew the concern he could hear in her voice was genuine, though likely more for his own well being than for Hux’s present state.

“I don’t know.” He answered honestly, voice trembling slightly. “I’m not sure what I’ll do if he’s not.”

* * *

It was almost a week before Hux woke up, plugged into every machine possible and with wires coming out of seemingly everywhere. He looked more machine than man, and a shudder ran through Kylo at the memories of his own Grandfather’s passing. Bleary eyes blinked up at Kylo, framed by pale lashes that were much too long. Lost for words, Kylo managed to blurt out the first thing that came into his head.

“ _God_ you’re beautiful.”

He was lucky that Hux lost consciousness almost immediately after, Kylo wasn’t certain he could handle the mortification otherwise.

* * *

“You’re an idiot.” Kylo deadpanned, and Hux tried to laugh around the breathing apparatus still stuck to his face, half sitting up in the hospital bed while Kylo sat cross legged at the foot flipping through Hux’s medical chart.

“I think that’s my line.” Hux replied with what looked more like a smile than a smirk, though it was difficult to tell in his present state.

“I’m not the one who nearly died.” The list of medical conditions and side effects listed on the sheets of paper seemed endless; Hux had wanted to read it, and the medical staff at the hospital had no reason to stop him from doing so. Most of the terms meant little to Kylo, but a few stood out, ones he had heard of before under even less favourable circumstances. “Pleural effusion, ARDS, damnit Hux.” It was tempting to throw the clipboard at the redhead, but Kylo wanted Hux getting better not worse, and instead levelled his best glare at the man.

“It means-”

“I know what it means.” Kylo interrupted, eyes focused back on the paper in his hands and Hux looked momentarily surprised. “It was the sepsis that killed my Grandfather, in the end, but they had him on a mechanical ventilation unit for a long time.” His knuckles were white where he was gripping the clipboard, the thin metal bending slightly under the pressure. Slender fingers reached out to brush over the back of his hand, pulling, tugging, and Hux was still so frustratingly weak. Kylo let himself be pulled though, curling against Hux’s side, careful not to put any pressure on his chest.

“I’m sorry.” It was the first time Kylo had ever heard Hux apologise, for anything, and he was certain it must be the medication talking. “I didn’t mean to make you worry.”

“Just don’t do it again.” Kylo sniffed, pressing a kiss to the back of Hux’s knuckles and looping an arm across his hips.

**Author's Note:**

> I was originally going to write a lot more detail into Hux's illness, based on my own experiences of pneumonia while I was in college (it's not fun kids, it almost cost me my A-levels and twelve years later I still can't breathe right!), then decided that it was probably unnecessary for the flow of the story and stuck with basics. I also didn't really want to gross anyone out, so...


End file.
